Moorea II - Rays, Sharks and Buggies

It is not yet daylight and even though I could sleep in, I usually get up with the roosters - always roosters - loud roosters. Chickens love it here in Polynesia, even more than Mexico. They run wild here and you always see a rooster with some hens and little chicks running around, sometimes way out from any houses in really remote areas. We are anchored just inside the fringing reef just around the corner from the entrance to Opunohu Bay on Moorea. The water is so clear we thought we were going to run aground here (again) because you could see the bottom so well. It actually got very shallow for a bit but we are in 25' of water and you can see every link in the chain on the bottom - the anchor is buried in sand so we can't see that. Gorgeous water though, with that fairy tale set of blue colors you always see in the photographs and calendars of exotic places. It rained last night which helped wash the boat off but it is very calm this morning before the sun comes up.

Cindy is sleeping down below and nursing a new cold/sore throat that seems to be going around. It probably came from Fakarava weeks ago, passed on by villagers to cruiser friends to us. I'm next - yoohoo - can't wait!

Yesterday we rented these little dune buggie type cars/scooters with anemic little engines which could only go about 45kph, or less than 30mph, which is plenty fast as it is way scary to go that fast in them on a straight paved road with no traffic. They have a roll cage but no windshield so we were glad it did not do more than sprinkle a couple of times during the day. We circumnavigated Moorea on the low road all the way round. Not much to stop for but a couple of lookouts mostly but we did find our favorite cheap boxed wine which we had not seen since the Marquesas. We did go up to this magnificent spot up the valley overlooking both Cook's and Opunohu Bays. The valley is truly gorgeous with pastures with some of the nicest looking horses anywhere, and white huge cattle (Charoleis?), pineapple fields and pine trees of all things. It was a struggle to turn the steering on the switchbacks on the way up. The steering is right off of a riding lawn mower.

We also went to the "juice" factory where the Roti brand juices are made. They also make liquors from juice there and have a sampler bar at the little store. They gave us several half-shots of different flavors - pineapple, pineapple/coconut, grapefruit (an acquired taste), banana, orange, and coconut and vanilla cremes. Very yummy but not cheap. We just bought a jar of fruit chutney to make cheese dip with. Our budget has been blown to you know where by French Polynesia. When we run out of money we have to quit and work again if we can convince anyone to hire a couple of derelict cruisers again.

The day before we went snorkeling about 3 miles away inside the reef near this fancy hotel resort. It was a shallow (5ft) sandy spot next to the 30ft channel. As soon as you get in the water you are approached by 3-4ft sting rays who glide up to you with that flapping and floating motion they have. They are looking for handouts since this is where the tourists are brought to watch and feed the rays. They are totally used to people and will come right up to you. It can be very disconcerting at first and Cindy was not comfortable for a bit, but they are harmless so long as you don't step on one. Some friends on Sarabi got some underwater pics so we might get one on the blog later. There were also black-tipped reef sharks (4-5ft?) swimming right next to us in the deeper channel. I think they feed those too other times. Some of them had remoras swimming right under them waiting for table scraps. I saw my first shark fin out of the water on the surface and it is every bit as spooky as you might imagine.

We did not get barbed nor bit though and dinghied around the beautiful area for a while before running back straight in to a big windy chop. Then, our motor died right in the worse narrow spot so that we would immediately drift in to the shallow coral. Sarabi took our line and towed us over to the hotel dock and I found a loose spark plug cap that must have been dislodged by the pounding we were taking going to "weather". It ran fine after I replaced the cap. I had a nervous breakdown for a minute though thinking about having to rebuild the motor out here since it has been acting up sometimes anyway. Lots of things can ruin your day(s) out here and witness to that is the number of boats who are packing it in and going home early.

Today I am going to try to polish up the bad welding job they did on our wind pilot in Tahiti. I bought a polishing wheel and some stainless steel polishing compound there and will see if it works on my 1/2" drill. Not the right set up but may be it will work with a few hours effort. I will have to run the inverter to make AC for the drill and run the main engine to charge the batteries for the inverter. Or I might run our little generator to do the same thing.

Any way, it is a mixture of work and play out here, but at least we get to pick what time we get up (for me I might as well be going to work getting up before dawn every day) and what we do every day. That is, unless there is a crisis and we don't get to choose, or we have to get provisions or propane or fuel or whatever. Still, what a great chance for us to be able to do this.

We do miss our family and friends though and hope all are doing well.

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